The missing "Circle"? Great black gospel from 1928.

From 1928, J.C. Burnett's version of Will the Circle Be Unbroken--my rip sounds better than the track included on the Document label's second volume of Burnett, which means I have a better copy (though mine is VG- at best).

This version of Circle solves some of the riddle that is the Carter Family's version vs. the one written in 1907 by Charles H. Gabriel and Ada Habershon. The Gabriel/Habershon Circle has been recorded by any number of folks, including Eddy Arnold, Pat Boone, the Blue Ridge Quartet, and Burl Ives. It starts, "There are loved ones in the glory, Whose dear forms you often miss." The Carter version starts, "I was standing by the window, On one cold and cloudy day." It uses a different, but similar melody associated with Lay My Burden Down. Examples of same: Ray Acuff and Mississippi Fred McDowell.

For contrast, here's Eddy Arnold, from 1946, singing the 1907 Gabriel/Habershon tune and lyrics: Will the Circle...

Now, on the version we're about to hear, we have the tune to Lay My Burden Down, but modified with a half cadence prior to the chorus (a la Gabriel), with a stanza from Aba Habershon starting things out ("You remember songs of Heaven, Which you sang with childish voice"). Then the lyrics switch to the Carter lyrics with mother, the hearse, the undertaker, etc. The last verse ("One by one..."), though, may be a variation on Habershon.

Two things make this excellent recording extra-special: 1) the Carter Family lyrics appearing seven years prior to their recording of them, and 2) the strong links to the 1907 Circle. It supports my long-time feeling that the Carter/Burnett song derives, to whatever extent, from the 1907 song. Which, in turn, could have been based on an earlier number, though I haven't found direct evidence. Which doesn't mean someone else hasn't....

All perfectly clear, you say? Cool. (Hm. You sound a little sarcastic....)

To the 78: Will the Circle Be Unbroken--Rev, J.C. Burnett and His Quartet, 1928.



Lee

The Birds--a photo study

It's a good thing we don't have monkey bars in the back yard....

I took these from inside, since they refuse to pose if there's a human anywhere near.

#2 and #5 are almost, but not quite, the same shot. Be sure to click on images for a larger view.

Cheap label wonders, Part 2

You'll have to admit I look pretty dignified. This is my imitation of the standard cheap-label EP/LP cover of the day. Nothing from the Broadway label is in today's playlist, but the Broadway sleeve makes for a cool backdrop, so there it is.

Fourteen extremely fun low-budget cover records today, including a number from a label called Big Buy 4 Hit Tunes, which isn't mentioned at the great Rite Records website--maybe I stumbled onto an overlooked Rite label. There were so many of the things, anything is possible. Somewhere in the vast mess of this room, the paper sleeves wait to be found--they may contain more info.

Some great covers mixed with the not-so-great. Not to be negative, but Hank Weaver's Mack the Knife and The Gateway Trio's Worried Man give us much reason to appreciate the originals--ditto for the Coastiers' (the who?) Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, which isn't quite up to the Platters' big-hit version. The Four Jacks' Little Darlin', on the other hand, is fabulous, and the Toppers' Standing on the Corner almost stands up to the Four Lads. Art Gentry's Lovely Bunch of Coconuts on Hi-Tone (unfortunately, he seems to be covering someone other than Merv) is beautifully done, even if the pressing is anything but Hi-quality.

To the wonders: Cheap label wonders, Part 2

PLAYLIST

I'VE GOT A LOVELY BUNCH OF COCONUTS--Art Gentry and the Riddlers (Hi-Tone).
STANDING ON THE CORNER--The Toppers (Tops).
SHE SAY (OOM DOOBY DOOM)--Gateway Four (Big Buy 4 Hit Tunes).
CHARLIE BROWN--Gateway Four (Big Buy 4 Hit Tunes).
LITTLE DARLIN'--The Four Jacks w. Herbie Layne's Orch. (Gateway), 1957.
SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES--The Coastiers (Big Buy 4 Hit Tunes), 1958.
16 CANDLES--Same.
THE CHILDREN'S MARCHING SONG--The Coasters Orch. and Singing Group (Same label).
I GOT A WIFE--Gateway Four (Same label).
PETER GUNN THEME--Al Christi (Same label).
MACK THE KNIFE--Hank Weaver (Same label).
SOME KIND-A EARTHQUAKE--Guitar Tommy (Same).
THE ANGELS LISTENED IN--The Coastiers (Same), 1959.
WORRIED MAN--The Gateway Trio (Same), 1959.


Lee

Way-late update to my William Indelli post

My posting schedule (love that term) got thrown off by the arrival of that amazing 1914 mandolin club 78, which led to a lot of listening, Googling, and reading, sometimes all at once. And by our serial snowfall. I was distracted by a 78 and snow. But, luckily, not a 78 in the snow.

It's amazing how much a combination of snow and cabin fever can throw off the rhythm of blogging. Which (the rhythm of blogging) is a great idea for a musical suite. Anyway, let me start my catching up by sharing Phil Milstein's astute, and totally correct, two-part observation that Mary Ann's Rock, co-written by Bill Indelli, is 1) a version of the calypso song Marianne, best known in/by its 1956 version by the Easy Riders and 2) stylistically, a total copy of Johnny and the Hurricanes (who had much success similarly adapting public-domain material). Meanwhile, I was focused on the Bert Kaempfert sound of the flute chorus. That'll happen.

Many thanks to Phil for placing that record and song in the proper pop context.

Also on my catch-up itinerary--the second part of "Cheap Label Wonders." Coming soon.


Lee

African-American Barbershop, Billy-Murray-style

No, Billy wasn't African American, of course, but he could (and did) sing in that mode. As proof, we have Billy Murray with the American Quartet (from 1924) singing imitation-African-American barbershop. Indeed, scholars have determined that barbershop, as it first appeared, was a style developed by blacks. I find that highly likely, though I'm not sure about an essay I just read which claims that the antiphony found in such music--"Sweet Adeline (Sweeeet Aaaa-dellll-liiiiine)"--is a black feature in and of itself, given that answer phrases go back and back (and back) in vocal music. In my aural view, what gives barbershop call and response an African American character is the way the chords function as a fill-in or turnaround, a la ragtime and early jazz. We'll hear this in The Green Grass Grew All Around--a short melodic phrase on the tonic followed by a tonic fill-in sporting descending half-steps. This screams "barbershop." And I just filed a patent on the phrase "sporting descending half-steps."

By contrast, the same device (with same-note repetition), as used in 1868's In the Sweet By and By, screams "pioneer church service." As written, anyway.

As proof that complicated quartet histories didn't start with R&B vocal groups, here's Tim Gracyk's amazing essay about the groups which bore this name: American Quartet.

The American Quartet made some fabulous records, and I need to assemble the examples I have (not a lot, come to think of it) and focus on getting some more. Your job, meanwhile, is to listen to these great sides, both of them public-domain classics in the "cumulative" genre, as it's called. The label gives composer credit to Old MacDonald, and Green Grass was claimed in 1912 (though no credit appears on this version), but give me a break. Green Grass is vastly similar to the Irish folk song The Rattlin' Bog. (Thanks, Mudcat Cafe.)

To the 1924 78, whose hairline crack didn't produce a single click on the disc on the table in the room in the house by the snow in the yard by the, etc.:

The Green Grass Grew All Around--The American Quartet (Lead--Billy Murray), 1924.
Old MacDonald Had a Farm--Same guys.

Now you have a couple of answers to the question, "What did barbershop originally sound like?" A question asked every minute by someone. Well, maybe not every minute....


Lee

Sunday Morning Gospel will return...

...next week. The staff is taking the day off.

I will not lay off blogging for Lent, however. I don't know where or how that rumor got started. (Oh, wait--it was me.)

Rain is arriving (tonight, sometime), and I'm praying that it doesn't turn into ice, but it looks like it will. Cold and water, when mixed, do tend to produce same.

Winter--ya gotta love it.